Donald Trump was sworn in, as fourth-quarter earnings season kicked into high gear
Amid a busy week of corporate earnings and Fed speeches, it was newly inaugurated President Donald Trump that once again stole the stock market spotlight. Specifically, stocks started the week in negative territory, after Trump
issued harsh words toward the U.S. dollar, sending
the greenback tumbling. What's more, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) popped on Tuesday -- although Schaeffer's contributor Adam Warner suggest
these short-term spikes could happen with more frequency going forward, and is something
options traders have been seemingly been bracing for. Nevertheless, after logging
its longest losing streak since early November and taking a brief trek into negative year-to-date territory, a shift in sentiment today has the Dow on track to notch its first win of the week.
Trump's market-moving comments spread to other areas of Wall Street, as well, with his promises of
"insurance for everybody" helping lift healthcare stocks. And while most of Trump's Twitter feed was dedicated to events surrounding Inauguration Day, the president took time out to praise General Motors Company (NYSE:GM),
Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT), and
Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) on their job creation promises.
However, not all the week's action revolved around the comings and goings in Washington D.C., as fourth-quarter earnings season kicked off in earnest. Big-cap banks stole the show early on, with
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS), Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), and
Goldman Sachs Group Inc (NYSE:GS) all failing to capitalize on profit beats in the wake of their respective results amid broad-market headwinds. There was plenty of positive post-earnings price action to be found, though, just ask
Netflix, Inc. (NASDAQ:NFLX) or International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM) shareholders, with the latter
erasing an earlier deficit to hit a fresh annual high.
There was also plenty of M&A buzz circling Wall Street, with news of Sanchez Energy Corp's (NYSE:SN) big asset purchase -- and
subsequent round of bullish brokerage attention -- sending the shares into annual-high territory. Eli Lilly and Co's (NYSE:LLY) nearly $1 billion purchase of CoLucid Pharmaceuticals Inc (NASDAQ:CLCD) also earned
praise from analysts, while
rumors of a potential blue-chip takeover sparked a surge in shares of 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE:DDD).
Looking ahead, though the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) continues to trade south of
this key technical level, data from Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White suggests
the so-called "Trump rally" could have room to run, given the S&P 500 Index's (SPX) uptrend between the election and Inauguration Day. And while
blue-chip names will dominate the earnings calendar during Trump's first official week in office, a list of historical post-inauguration outperformers and underperformers shows these
two oil stocks and
this drink maker should be ones to watch.
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